What do you know about China's geography?Do you think it is flat like Illinois? Let's find out! To give you an idea of the size of China, its' area is slightly smaller than the United States. It's a large area of land which is home to a lot of people (which we will talk more about later!) (China, cia.gov, 2011)
Fun Fact: China shares a border with 14 countries! See if you can find all 14 in the map above!
Climate: The climate of China is very diverse. Its' Southern parts are tropical, but the Northern parts are subarctic. (China, cia.gov, 2011)
Do you know any other countries that are like this? Maybe the United States? Our Southern states are warm (Florida, Texas, Arizona) and many Northern states are cold (Minnesota, Alaska, Michigan).
Natural Hazards: Natural disasters are common in China. Typhoons frequently occur, along with floods, tsunamis, earthquakes, droughts, and land subsidence. China has some volcanoes that are currently inactive. (China, cia.gov, 2011)
China has had 6 of the world's top 10 floods/landslides, 3 of the top 10 earthquakes, and 6 of the top 10 famines. Of the top 10 deadliest natural disasters, China was where 5 occurred, including the top 3 deadliest disasters. (Natural Disasters in China, wikipedia.org, 2011)
Natural disasters are a huge concern and of great impact on the country of China. Water Mass: Of the 3,705,405 square miles of land, water takes up a small, but still significant 104,460 square miles. (China, worldatlas.com, 2011)The Yangtze River is the longest in Asia and third longest in the world; 3,988 miles long. It is a very important resource to China.(Yangtze River, wikipedia.org, 2011)
File:Cn1202-03.jpg
Terrain: China is mostly mountainous with high plateaus, however, to the west there are deserts, and to the east there are plains, deltas, and hills. (China, cia.gov, 2011) Major Land Forms: China is home to the Gobi Desert which covers part of Mongolia as well. Unlike the deserts that we are most familiar with, this desert is covered by mostly rock, not sand, and it is a cold desert. It is not uncommon to see frost or snow in the plateaus of this desert!Because this desert is in the Northern part of China, it's temperatures vary a lot throughout the year, but it can be very cold as a result of winds that blow in. (Gobi Desert, wikipedia.org, 2011)
Try to imagine what a cold desert would be like! China has the world's highest point, Mt. Everest, part of the Himalayas. It stands tall at 8,850 meters! (China, cia.gov, 2011) Here is a 3D image of Mt. Everest -- look for the highest peak!
Mt. Everest separates Nepal and Tibet. If you click on Ter (Terrain View) in the upper right hand corner of the map below and then zoom out twice with the minus arrow, you can see Nepal,Tibet and the land form between them which is the mountainous region of Mt. Everest. Feel free to explore the land of China!
Check out the website below for some fun facts about Mt. Everest! http://www.mnteverest.net/history.html Plants and Animals: Now that we know about the climate and terrain of China, we can understand what kind of plant and animal life we might find. China is one of the countries with the greatest diversity of wildlife in the world.
There are more than 100 wild animal species unique to China including such well-known rare animals as the giant panda, golden-haired monkey, South China tiger, brown-eared pheasant, red-crowned crane, red ibis, white-flag dolphin and Chinese alligator.
The black-and-white giant panda weighs on average 135 kg and lives on tender bamboo leaves and bamboo shoots. Because it is extremely rare - just over 1,500 are left at present - it has become the symbol of the world's protected wild animals.
The white-flag dolphin is one of only two species of freshwater whales in the world. In 1980, a male white-flag dolphin was caught for the first time in the Yangtze River, which aroused great interest among dolphin researchers worldwide.
China is also one of the countries with the most abundant plant life in the world.
There are more than 32,000 species of higher plants, and almost all the major plants that grow in the northern hemisphere's frigid, temperate and tropical zones are represented in China.
In addition, there are more than 7,000 species of woody plants, including 2,800-odd tree species.
China is home to more than 2,000 species of plants that can be eaten and over 3,000 species of plants used in medicine. (Plants and Animals in China, china.org.cn, 2011)
What do you know about China's geography?Do you think it is flat like Illinois?
Let's find out!
To give you an idea of the size of China, its' area is slightly smaller than the United States.
It's a large area of land which is home to a lot of people (which we will talk more about later!) (China, cia.gov, 2011)
Fun Fact: China shares a border with 14 countries! See if you can find all 14 in the map above!
Climate:
The climate of China is very diverse. Its' Southern parts are tropical, but the Northern parts are subarctic.
(China, cia.gov, 2011)
Do you know any other countries that are like this? Maybe the United States?
Our Southern states are warm (Florida, Texas, Arizona) and many Northern states are cold (Minnesota, Alaska, Michigan).
Natural Hazards:
Natural disasters are common in China. Typhoons frequently occur, along with floods, tsunamis, earthquakes, droughts, and land subsidence. China has some volcanoes that are currently inactive.
(China, cia.gov, 2011)
China has had 6 of the world's top 10 floods/landslides, 3 of the top 10 earthquakes, and 6 of the top 10 famines. Of the top 10 deadliest natural disasters, China was where 5 occurred, including the top 3 deadliest disasters. (Natural Disasters in China, wikipedia.org, 2011)
Natural disasters are a huge concern and of great impact on the country of China.
Water Mass: Of the 3,705,405 square miles of land, water takes up a small, but still significant 104,460 square miles. (China, worldatlas.com, 2011)The Yangtze River is the longest in Asia and third longest in the world; 3,988 miles long. It is a very important resource to China.(Yangtze River, wikipedia.org, 2011)
Terrain:
China is mostly mountainous with high plateaus, however, to the west there are deserts, and to the east there are plains, deltas, and hills.
(China, cia.gov, 2011)
Major Land Forms:
China is home to the Gobi Desert which covers part of Mongolia as well. Unlike the deserts that we are most familiar with, this desert is covered by mostly rock, not sand, and it is a cold desert. It is not uncommon to see frost or snow in the plateaus of this desert!Because this desert is in the Northern part of China, it's temperatures vary a lot throughout the year, but it can be very cold as a result of winds that blow in. (Gobi Desert, wikipedia.org, 2011)
Try to imagine what a cold desert would be like!
China has the world's highest point, Mt. Everest, part of the Himalayas. It stands tall at 8,850 meters! (China, cia.gov, 2011)
Here is a 3D image of Mt. Everest -- look for the highest peak!
Mt. Everest separates Nepal and Tibet.
If you click on Ter (Terrain View) in the upper right hand corner of the map below and then zoom out twice with the minus arrow, you can see Nepal,Tibet and the land form between them which is the mountainous region of Mt. Everest. Feel free to explore the land of China!
Check out the website below for some fun facts about Mt. Everest!
http://www.mnteverest.net/history.html
Plants and Animals:
Now that we know about the climate and terrain of China, we can understand what kind of plant and animal life we might find.
China is one of the countries with the greatest diversity of wildlife in the world.
There are more than 100 wild animal species unique to China including such well-known rare animals as the giant panda, golden-haired monkey, South China tiger, brown-eared pheasant, red-crowned crane, red ibis, white-flag dolphin and Chinese alligator.
The black-and-white giant panda weighs on average 135 kg and lives on tender bamboo leaves and bamboo shoots. Because it is extremely rare - just over 1,500 are left at present - it has become the symbol of the world's protected wild animals.
The white-flag dolphin is one of only two species of freshwater whales in the world. In 1980, a male white-flag dolphin was caught for the first time in the Yangtze River, which aroused great interest among dolphin researchers worldwide.
China is also one of the countries with the most abundant plant life in the world.
There are more than 32,000 species of higher plants, and almost all the major plants that grow in the northern hemisphere's frigid, temperate and tropical zones are represented in China.
In addition, there are more than 7,000 species of woody plants, including 2,800-odd tree species.
China is home to more than 2,000 species of plants that can be eaten and over 3,000 species of plants used in medicine. (Plants and Animals in China, china.org.cn, 2011)
Resources
China. (n.d.). World Atlas. Retrieved December 7, 2011, from http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/asia/cnlarge.htm
Giant Panda In China. (n.d.). Animals Species. Retrieved December 8, 2011, from http://animalsspecies.blogspot.com/2011/05/giant-panda-in-china.html
Gobi Desert. (2011, November 5).Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved December 8, 2011, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gobi_Desert
Mount Everest. (2011, December 4).Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved December 8, 2011, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Everest
Mt Everest History and facts. (n.d.). Mount Everest Facts. Retrieved December 7, 2011, from http:www.mnteverest.net/history.htm
Natural disasters in China. (2011, November 3). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved December 7, 2011, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_disasters_in_China
Plants and Animals in China. (n.d.).China.org.cn. Retrieved December 8, 2011, from http://china.org.cn/english/environment/222917.htm
The World Factbook: China. (2011, November 10). Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved December 6, 2011, from https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ch.html
Yangtze River. (2011, December 7).Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia//. Retrieved December 8, 2011, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yangtze_River